Ricky Rubio Practices For The First Time After Knee Injury

Ricky Rubio practiced for the first time with his Timberwolves teammates following his 9 month rehab from knee surgery. The Spanish guard had come into his own last season before tearing ligaments in his knee.

Teammate Kevin Love went to have the best season of his career but there’s so much more that can be accomplished when Rubio is on the court.

Rubio spoke with AP writer Jon Krawczynski after his first practice and had this to say:

”After a long time, I’m on the court again,” Rubio said. ”It felt pretty good to start knowing my teammates again.”

”I felt pretty good, but I want to be perfect,” Rubio said. ”I have to work hard. I have to keep working and see where I’m at.”

”Today we didn’t have any alley-oops,” Rubio said, with a smile. ”But I hope soon we have some of those.”

Head Coach Rick Adelman went on to say:

”That’s there. He showed that today,” Adelman said. ”He passed the ball very well, got to spots. That’s always going to be there. It’s just going to be his conditioning and his legs and how long can he go? That’s going to be the biggest thing.”

Rubio wasn’t known for his defensive prowess prior to his knee injury so it is yet to be seen how he handles guarding the elite point guards in the NBA. Defending athletic PGs like Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, and Rajon Rando is hard enough to do with two good knees.